TT Short Stories
by HeadinCloud
Summary: This was originally 1 one-shot, but I decided to hell with that. This is my Teen Titan one-shot stop! It'll most likely deal with R/R or R/BB, cause those are 'mah jam' pairings. Oh, and I like angst too, so watch out for that ;
1. Twilight

Twilight

* * *

The night air was crisp and running playful blusters only sporadically to chill the skin into attention. The night sky was nearly clear and bore a deep, oceanic blue that darkened as the night receded further. Raven stood on the top of titan's tower staring out at Jump City standing frozen with its inner-city lights polluting the sky so much as to block out any chance of seeing the stars. Still, the city, in its own way was like a galaxy of lights that replaced the heavens, almost appearing as what Raven found to be a modern twist to Van Gogh's 'Starry Night'. She looked on with tired eyes that reflected sleepless hours spent gazing into her small city.

She usually kept to her room during these times of contemplation and worries that so often blocked up her mind. On rare occasion, however, she would venture out, though just to see the world in its natural state- without the busy humdrum of human life. It was almost like being alone with the planet and no one else. She felt intimate with her thoughts, as if she could finally claim the world as her room now that everyone had gone off into their own.

The thoughts that whispered between her ears were often negative and biting, sometimes morbid. She held her cloak closer to her in a vain attempt to brace the nighttime air. She wore gray pajama bottoms over her traditional leotard, but still the cold gusts of wind would sneak up on her and betray her amidst her most private thoughts. Her will to stay out was waning as she bore the brunt of the last wave of wind that sent falsetto notes running down her arms and legs as she quivered.

The night stood silent, again. Crickets could be heard singing their melancholy songs, chirping only to fade away as a background track for nights in cold rumination. Raven felt a ball of energy dying in her stomach that ached like disappointment, huddling raggedly into a fetal position, admitting its defeat. It would often come, the feeling that shook her world, but never made a sound- the thing she hid and didn't bother despite it's sad protests to be heard. Her eyes fixed again, on the distant Van Gogh forgery that twinkled insidiously, drawing her tired eyes, but never giving pleasure. Acting as an illusion of reality to the dumb and a reminder of it to the wise. She felt her soul go black, feeling herself like crisp, stiffened ash standing weak after an inferno. The wind scattered those charcoaled remnants of depression and she shivered again, forgetting her petty, cerebral pains.

As the brisk brush of winds violently permeated her thin outerwear, only exacerbating and muddling her agitation. She felt the impulse to go back inside reemerge within her. However, before she could act on it she felt a gently hesitant hand fall on her left shoulder. The touch was conscientious and light so as not to startle her. She turned to view her intruder knowing full well his identity before she confirmed it.

"Raven, are you alright? It's late."

"I'm fine, Robin." The words fell tasteless on Raven's dry pallet as she actively avoided his eyes, though he hadn't quite yet stepped to stand beside her. The night stood still, all but the crickets chirping, emphasizing long pauses.

"That's what you usually say." He sighed, suggesting neutrally.

Raven eyes darted to the skyline to look at the ugly city in contempt, unwilling to fully turn to meet her friend's face as she unloaded a short, but defensive retort, "That's what I usually mean."

It was delivered firmly and unwavering, because it wasn't a lie. She often wanted to be left alone, and of all the Titan's Robin understood this most. He understood that solitude was not necessarily negative, and often necessary for those that needed the peace. Knowing this however often made him more attuned to when it reached excess.

He stood beside her now, unhappy with the results he garnered from standing behind her. They overlooked the city in silence, standing comfortable in the quiet that surrounded them. Raven could feel his presence besides her making her heart dimly lighten. It was a rebel faction within her, the feelings she had for him despite her best intentions. Cutting through the void, Raven asked back with genuine interest, "Are you alright?"

Robin's brows furrowed as he witnessed his own army of sentiment betray him. He responded vaguely with a lame, transparent smile, "Sure, I'm fine."

Raven looked over the edge of the tower, viewing the distance from roof to foundation grimly. She mused aloud, drawing her face up again at the city lights, clenching her lips together, emitting a simple, humming grunt at his response, "Hmm..."

He countered with irritation, "What?"

Raven rolled her eyes, losing her patience with the method actor, "You expect me to tell you what's on my mind when you can't even talk about what's on your own?"

Robin stood upright, attempting to hide his indignation," I'm not the one standing on the roof in the middle of the night, staring off into space."

Raven bowed her head forward, and spoke in a hushed voice, "Like you've never done it."

Robin recoiled, "Some do it more often than others."

A waft of air drew by picking up tendrils of Raven's hair and blowing them passed her eyes that sat sunken in their sockets. She ignored it, letting it obscure her vision as it pleased, "What's your point?"

Raven always strove to make those that confronted her go the extra mile to be direct in what they asked of her. She was a master of denial and worked hard to bottle her emotions as to not harm others and consequently herself. Most people liked to hint at a distance, and keep their hands clean rather than bloody them with bold statements and presumptions. Knowing this she tried to derail people by making them uncomfortable, and reluctant to confront her to begin with.

Robin looked as if his mind were running over, trying to wrap itself around the barrels she repeatedly knocked before him and his endeavor to merely communicate his concern.

He looked to her, eyes piercing behind a blank mask and groaning, "Why can't you just be open with me once in a while? We're friends- aren't we?"

Raven suffered an infraction from what she had invited- a direct response. Fractured invisibly, her voice broke with derision, but she managed to laugh haughtily, "This coming from a guy who wears a mask."

The air was dead, and even the crickets seemed to listen in for the next words to play out. Their capes rustled side-by-side, Robin's black lightly kissing Raven's royal blue. The two stood still in the unbroken silence. Finally, Robin spoke up, turning to face Raven sharply with exasperation, "You know what, I don't care- You really want to know how I'm doing? Alright, because if I tell you, then you have to tell me, and I really don't mind saying it if it has to be said."

Raven looked up, her eyes open and intrigued by the statement. She fiddled with her thoughts, pontificating which response to give. She settled, hoping to call a bluff, though she secretly knew none to exist, "Okay, tell me."

Robin stiffened momentarily, but inhaled sufficiently to let out a sigh of purpose, exhaling nerves and all, "Well, hmm…" He paused, and thought to himself, then smiled meekly, "I never really have to put it into words too often..."

He paused. Raven waited patiently, insisting only with her continued silence as he stirred the stewed thoughts up inside his head, "... I guess lately, you could say I'm in a rut? I'm not doing particularly good OR bad, just kind of unsatisfied in general…?"

He was noticeably uneasy as he spoke, hunting for words desperately and feelings to gather together and present as sufficient. Raven helped him along, responding sincerely, "How so?"

"Geeze, I don't know, Raven..."

He looked more nervous than she could ever recall seeing him. No villain, not even Starfire in the early stages of their relationship could do this to him. She saw a weak, red flush come to his cheeks as he dug through himself.

After more silence passed he finally caught a sincere response. He spoke factually, "I think about the past sometimes."

There was nearly another pause, but the sentiment spawned a train of thought that ran up like fire to a kerosene covered rope, "You know, I think about working with Batman, and how we ended on bad terms. Or about my parents and how I can't even really remember their faces anymore...stuff like that."

He appeared deeply saddened just by saying this allowed.

But he continued, noting more to himself than to Raven,"- and you know, for all the accolades we get for what we do, nobody knows how awful it is to have never had enough time to even get to know yourself…. I feel like I've been an adult for most of my young life."

Raven interjected in a gentle, compassionate tone "I think we all feel that way to some degree. If it's any consolation you'll always be a kid to me." She joked dryly, sending a reminder of their small age difference, but it didn't seem to faze him.

Robin kept his somber expression and continued, his tone diving off a bit, "I feel guilty for never being expressive enough with Starfire."

Raven shifted uncomfortably at the mention of her friend's name, as the aged and bitter hand of jealousy overcame her. She crossed her arms stiffly as her eyes fell dead behind a poker face.

Robin's arms were crossed themselves as he hit a minor chord, stating dejectedly, "Sometimes I don't know why she even bothers with me."

Even for her brooding leader the statement had been a bit self-effacing. The severity of his voice drew her away from herself, and she responded with intended conviction, "There's nothing wrong with you, Robin..."

She added with less force, fighting her tendency toward reticence, "You're a great guy."

Robin scoffed uncharacteristically, and shook his head "I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I'm not asking for interpretations."

Raven returned his tone, "Yours are the only ones that matter?"

Robin stated plainly," They're the only ones that count."

The sky was still dark, but it seemed to be waning faintly. The city lights blinked on and off as if saying their last goodbyes before the daylight swallowed them up in its greedy embrace. The dawn crept just below the horizon, and the sound of crickets began to fade in their continued silence as the pair stood facing one another.

Robin broke in, in a sudden realization, "Well, aren't you supposed to be contributing something here, too?"

Raven looked away, "I don't know what to say."

But Robin persisted vigilantly, "You have say something, Raven."

She pleaded frantically, her hair falling into her face dramatically, "Like what?"

Robin spoke up insistent on the issue, feeling incredulous toward her obstinacy, "Like maybe why you've come here to stare into oblivion every night for the past WEEK?"

Raven responded impulsively on her first feeling, retorting in defensiveness, "You're up at night too!"

Robin barked acridly, and shook his head in disbelief, "Jesus, we're talking about YOU! Just say what's on your mind, and stop acting like a child!"

The sentence was said with particular venom, which caused her blue eyes to brim, but she withheld the tears as she kept her head turned in inner shame. Biting her lip and taking in a short, butterfly breath she started, her voice cracking, struggling to emerge, "Why can't you understand how hard this is for me?"

Robin spoke again, unwavering, "It's hard for me too, Raven, but you can't just bottle everything up all the time."

Raven shook her head, "You don't understand. I was taught to suppress my emotions because they're fatal- to me and those around me. It isn't worth it…I can't."

Robin pleaded sympathetically, "Raven, even if you can only open up a little, I want to be hear for you. It makes me sick to see you like this, and I'm not afraid to die...I just hope you're not using this as an excuse to never let other people close enough to help you, because if it is it'll hurt you more in the end."

Raven stared with widened eyes at his insight, and she shrunk from it inside. She turned away from him to gaze, toward the city lights going under as daylight crept nearer and she admit in a quiet voice, "You're probably right, but I'm still afraid."

Robin rest his hand on her shoulder, "Please, Raven. I can't be happy until I know you're okay. Let me help you."

Raven let her words fall away with her mask of cold indifference as the breeze picked up timidly and she began, in a fretful tone, "My mother left me with the monks of Azar most of my life."

She stopped, only to observe that the world around her had not shattered upon this simplest of revelations. Her pause extended, and Robin prodded her with a single nod of his acknowledgement.

She proceeded, cautiously, "She was afraid of me. I could see it in her eyes…So I spent years and years at these bleak monasteries, learning to control the horrific thing that I was. And I worked so hard to be a good student, even a gracious learner, just so they might not fear me- just so they might understand that I needed love like anybody else. But I was always held at arms length… I worked so hard… just so they could banish me on a whim decision, from a prophecy that seemed conjured out of nothing more than their own braiding fear."

Raven added with a hurt in her voice, much sooner than she intended, "And I could come to understand their lack of concern for my well-being. But how could my mother care so little? She said nothing- she just let them throw me into some foreign dimension like it meant nothing to her…"

Raven choked in her throat from the natural desire to sob, but she told herself adamantly she wouldn't let a fresh tear fall.

Robin offered hesitantly, "I thought you said she considered it a necessary sacrifice for your people?"

Raven cut him off woundedly, "It wasn't her sacrifice to make."

"...and Azarath is gone now- it was doomed whether they kept me around or not- it was all for nothing!" She sounded furious for a moment, then her tone unexpectedly tapered off quietly as she added in despondence, "I wish I could have just been destroyed with the rest of Azarath like it was supposed to happen." The tears Raven had been stifling now poured like endless, slow moving raindrops rolling down porcelain cheeks.

Robin didn't need to see her face to know she was crying now. It was in her voice- the seldom-heard voice that wasn't quite so flat and insincere, the one that you only got a hint of when she yelled. It had life, but mostly it had pain, and it broke his heart.

She no longer tried to hide her crying jags, though she felt pitiful and naked before her only real friend.

Robin again placed an empathetic glove on Raven's cold shoulder. She had her face buried in a sea of fingers; mortified and shame-ridden when she looked up, only to see Robin looking on, only patience and concern in his expression. Robin pulled her toward him only to have her fall immediately into his chest as if a magnet had drawn her. Her forearms lay flat against his torso as her hands hung like two hangers on his firm shoulders. He rubbed her back soothingly, trying to avoid the inclination to rest his head on top of hers.

She drew her face into his neck nevertheless, simply needing the physical closeness and shelter that lay in the sturdy crook. He yielded, despite himself, understanding, though feeling himself precariously close to crossing certain lines of intimacy. He looked on in silence at the desolate night, feeling her cold limbs all fight to find their place beside him.

Raven's sobs lessened and her hands went limp and rested lifeless, only her legs holding firm. She kept her head buried in his neck with eyes closed, too afraid and ashamed to cast her gaze upward. Her breaths hit his neck slowly with repetition that warmed his chilled skin. He felt guilt for the pleasure he derived from her shallow breathing and the feeling of her fragile body weighing on his for protection and solace. He somehow knew he was the only person she would ever allow herself to open up to, and he took pride in being her confidant. She leaned against him, holding her hands together and pressing them to his chest. His immediate response was to envelope her as completely as he could, wrapping his arms protectively around her fragile form. They stood silent for what seemed eternal; him holding her, her standing vulnerable and weak, with her breathe at his neck and her head hidden under his chin.

But she pushed herself away, returning to her senses. She muttered, ashamed, looking at the flooring beneath them, "I'm sorry."

Robin was quick to play ignorant as he shrugged half-heartedly, "For what?"

Having just sobbed, her nose was reddened, and her eyes were stained in glass. In that moment, standing wet faced and pitiable, she felt no greater shame could befall her and she confessed herself directly, "Robin… I like you."

"Oh, Raven, I-"

She cut in, anticipating his response, "Don't worry. I'm not out to break you and Starfire apart. I know where I stand. I just thought you should know cause it's something that bothers me. I mean, because I don't want to."

Robin flushed, trying not to smile at the flattering thought of her alleged inability to resist him, "That's cool. I mean, no worries…?" He laughed, looking away shyly.

He pushed down his innate timidity, trying to regain the ability to communicate like a proper adult. He cleared his throat now, adding, "You know, there was a point at which I really liked you, Raven."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Robin's smile was infectious, and she smiled despite wanting with all her might to resist. Birds had begun calling, greeting the day and replacing the forlorn symphony of crickets. It seemed to be nearly 6am and the sun was bobbing chubbily on the horizon. Raven rubbed at her eyes attempting to clear away excess reminders of her brief collapse of will.

She took in a breath and asked plainly, "What made you chose her?"

Robin shrugged again, feeling pressed to respond with tact, "You were never exactly throwing yourself at me." He laughed to himself at the idea of Raven ever subjecting herself to the behavior Starfire had to get his attention. "I had no idea you felt this way- I thought you felt too mature for me, honestly."

"- and Star, she really helps me forget about a lot of the negative things in my life I told you about- my insecure moods and all that crap…", he trailed off.

Raven added, "and I remind you of them, don't I?"

Robin put his hands up to defend his position, "No, no! That's not what I'm saying."

Raven blinked quickly, and proceeded as if a pause had never run through the discussion, "But it's true, isn't it?"

Robin looked pained, "You don't depress me, Raven. You just…make me see the world in a way I don't want to right now. You see things honestly, and some day I'm going to have to face reality...but Starfire is good for me right now. I need her." At his final words he looked downward toward the tops of his shoes.

These last words stung like alcohol on an open wound. She recoiled involuntarily and winced as if offended by odor, not wanting to look in his direction. He saw a lone tear descend like a weight.

Robin came to her impulsively, unable to see her cry on her own again, giving her another bittersweet embrace. He couldn't contain his empathy for her. He did love her, but as to the nature of that love he felt uncertain. She was like a skittish cat, and he had a pained inkling she would only run from him if he ever tried to love her like he could. He felt guilt and sorrow consume him as he held her close. He could tell she ached of loneliness that arose from her repeated and self-imposed bouts of isolation. Her shoulders felt frail, and her skin was like soft flakes of paint that could crack in mere sunlight.

He heard a hushed sniff, and noted her face that held a restrained distance from his neck all the while staring downward and into his uniform. All this pain that she felt and she still had the character to remain loyal to her friend, respectful enough to decline to feed the flames of sexual tension that flickered between them and despite them.

He caressed her shoulders gently again, wanting nothing more than to soothe her battered soul. The touch was enough to cause her to flinch and raise her head. She craned her neck to meet his gaze, wanting to look away, but not finding the strength to do so. It seemed he suffered a similar impairment. He brought his hand to her and gingerly held her face, wiping away the stained tracks of tears on her face with his thumb. Then he kissed her cheek boldly, and yet softly, feeling himself well up with a strange force that caused him to feel as if tied by the heart to her, by some warm, endearing energy that wanted nothing more than to give love. He followed it naive and blind, and forgot himself leaning in and kissing her fully, this time in the proper place, sublimely gentle, savoring the brief, but passionate exchange whilst slowly falling out of step with reality.

Raven felt featherweight, falling victim to the moment and reciprocated timidly, drawing herself subtly closer, but the satisfaction could not divide out the guilt. She moved away, regaining the control she had let slip away too many times that night. She stepped away creating further distance, her cheeks red as a plums. Robin interjected, echoing Raven's own prior verbiage, "I'm sorry."

Raven looked down, much less flattered than Robin at the statement. She responded in her classic indifference, "…It's alright"

The sun was out, and the others were bound to emerge soon enough. The thought was enough to stiffen their skin, and the morning sun was just another ugly reminder of the fact.

"- We won't tell Starfire about this." Raven decided.

Robin appeared troubled, "I just want for you to be happy, Raven. I don't want to cause you any pain. Please, just know that."

Raven listened, but chose to turn the subject finding there was nothing more that needed to be said, "We should get breakfast..."

Robin smiled uneasy, "…we should."

Robin withdrew even further than usual from Starfire , leaving her to feel confused and hurt by behavior she perceived as manic and utterly random. The more she pried the less she received for her work. Simultaneously, Raven spent most of her free time locked in her room for nearly 2 months straight, wrapped up in the double-edged sword that loaded her mind with feelings of both guilt and longing, though she tried desperately to drown it out in her own way.

Robin and Raven avoided each other for nearly three months, entertaining only the briefest of interactions. Over time, however, the guilt became muted, and things returned to a substandard normalcy. Starfire and Robin's relationship smoothed to as smooth a degree as possible after the rooftop incident. Raven began to leave her room from time to time once again, and the balance slowly fell back into place. Longstanding routines had finally reestablished themselves and life was again a series of motions one could run through relatively mindless. It would remain a secret for several years.

* * *

I'm really, really tired. I stayed up writing this because I'm an idiot and wanted to ruin my Sunday. So, please, if you read this, it'd be nice if you commented cause I'm so tired right now and I'll be bummed if I stayed up for nothing. On another note, sleeping through the day is going to be magical (crosses fingers for good dreams.)

Listen to the song the story was inspired by, and listen to Elliott Smith in general. He is my hero. An absolutely brilliant man!

EDIT:/I just decided the city is a metaphor for how Raven feels about Robin. Interpret that more fully as you like.


	2. You'll Never Be Mine

You'll Never Be Mine

* * *

Raven sat on her bed, her legs bent beneath her while her long arms supported the weight of her body. She looked wearily at her fists buried in the deep blues of her bedding. An isolated tear fell onto the sheets, not making a sound. As a couple tears fell down the same paths as their predecessors she felt a sort of sick pleasure in the act of feeling pain at all. Yet, it was indeed pain and not this temporary pleasure from it that would settle in her stomach and make her sick each day until she left that awful, marauding tower. She hated the place ever since her friends had returned to it, but she had a special hatred for her room. It was made as if to taunt her overwhelming loneliness, to make her feel as small and insignificant as possible like some ecclesiastic Cathedral that swallowed her whole. It kicked her when she was down, and yet it was her only refuge.

Last week they had returned from Japan. Another mission. Another nuisance. Nothing to write home about, so to speak, up until she had seen Robin and Starfire exchanging a meaningful kiss in the rain. It happened just a week from that very night, and it tore her in two. It was so sudden, she hardly had the capacity to respond. It was this gorgeous and classic film playing in slow motion before her under the heavy Japanese skies. It was the cinematic denouement of a bubblegum romance that played out so perfectly before her, and it broke her heart. Still she chastise herself for continuing on with these feelings of remorse. They had all seen it a mile away coming, and yet it stung like betrayal. As if either party meant her ill will. They neither wished her good nor bad, because she was never a thought in their minds, and she knew this well. She filled her lungs with a sustained breath, trying to break up her jagged crying, only half succeeding.

It wasn't fair. Starfire could never understand him the way she did. All she saw was a pretty face- she didn't see his pain, or his humor, or even his taste in music! She only cared for what was on the surface. She could never have discussions with him about the meaning behind world acclaimed novels, artists, authors and poets, or on the subject of world affairs, political grafting and social justice! And was this to say that Robin would rather sit in the glow of her hollow beauty than at the side of an intelligent yet withdrawn girl such as herself simply because she was not a thing of ideal symmetry or flashy display. It was an outrage of conscience she told herself, though she knew this to be a farce of logic.

In reality, she knew it was never a dispute of intellectualism, it was that of likability- of pure charisma and personal appeal- that of which she had none. She knew she could never compete with the glowing personality of her wholesome and demure teammate. But the closer she allowed herself to come to this conclusion the faster the tears came, and she knew she was dying in some way, though not fatally. She felt as if a layer of her naivety was falling off slowly and painfully like a second skin and she might never be able to return to what she had been.

The pain struck her again and she began to wipe away at her face in hateful shame, smearing her eye makeup and making dark hollows of color around her eyes that only enhanced the look of her state. She breathed repetitively yet anxiously, trying to even her breathes and end this brief decent into shambles. She focused on her slow, failing breathes and listened to the sound of the air conditioning around her, flowing into her room at its steady, soothing interval. Finally, she flopped herself over, onto her back so that she could stare into the ceiling and regather her strength of mind. She lay idle for five minutes, continuing her breathing exercises, and listening to the sounds of near silence around her.

She involuntarily shook in panic as an abrasive knock that didn't seem to realize it's strength pounded at her door, disturbing her partly achieved peace. She sat up on her bed, her muscles feeling stiff and yet hollow.

"Raven..."

The familiar masculine tone spoke through her door, and she knew it was him as much as she willed it not to be in her thoughts. Raven sprung up from her bed, raising the lights, and inspecting a mirror. Her eyes were still puffy from her bout of tears, and she stammered while she tried to subdue signs of her state of being, "Uh, what is it?"

"...could you answer the door?" Robin spoke quizzically, confused and concerned at the same time.

"...yea...just a second."

After manically dabbing concealer around her eyes, and applying her eye drops to relieve any signs of redness, she scurried over hurriedly toward the door. It wooshed open, and she stood in the small sliver of an entrance parted only to accommodate her own meager width.

Robin was startled when she appeared abruptly after a few moments of hearing shuffling noises and general discomposure until she answered the door. He politely dismissed it for the time being, "Raven, are you alright? You haven't left your room for...well, a while."

Raven lied through her teeth with a poker face that confirmed nothing, "I'm fine. I just got into a good book, that's all."

Robin looked down, uncomfortable in himself. He was the only one that bothered her when she didn't leave her room for extended periods, and she knew why, though she wondered if he knew as well. Ever since she had entered his mind to save his life the night he had inhaled the hallucinogens in Slade's loaded mask he could sense her emotions, almost too well for her comfort at times. She had always hidden behind a facade of indifference and sarcasm, but he could see past it. Even before this event he had had a keen ability to pick up on the emotions of others. He was naturally empathetic. It was the reason for which she both feared and loved him.

"You're...lying. I know it."

Raven looked up wide eyed and shocked, growing paler for the briefest moment. She then withdrew the expression and exchanged it for a milder one. She couldn't tell whether he wasn't certain in his supposition, but he was holding his ground nevertheless.

So she attempted to play his bluff, with hesitance of her own as she stated in unnatural simplicity, "I'm NOT lying."

She froze in her anxiety, wanting to add more but not finding the words to do so, and veered her eyes away instinctively.

Robin shook his head, recognizing the tells of a lie as she ran a quick hand through her hair. "Raven, don't lie to me. I feel it. I feel you, or... your emotions. I can't explain it, but just acknowledge it, please, for my sanity..."

Raven looked away, struggling to choose an appropriate response.

Robin added tiredly, putting a hand to his head implicating perhaps a head ache, "Raven, please. I just want to know that I'm not going crazy when I start feeling emotions that don't...feel like they're mine. If it's not you then there's something wrong with me, but I feel positive that- it IS you. Please, Raven. I've been feeling sick ever since we came back, and I just NEED to know."

Raven hung her head in shame, hiding behind her cloak as she often would. She almost whispered, "I'm sorry. " but before she could continue she felt tears begin to fall from her eyes again. Her hands raced up to her face and she covered herself behind a crosshatch of fingers.

Robin took a step forward, but like a magnetic opposite she moved away from his approach. "Raven, what's wrong?"

She put a hand up as to indicate her desire for space between them as she shook her head in her hand. He closed the door behind him, realizing an audience might not be helpful for the time being.

Raven saw him approach through her fingers. She spoke in brief intervals as she choked on her tears, "No. Please, just go."

Robin stood opposite her, a couple feet between them. "Raven, please, tell me what's wrong. I can help you."

Raven sobbed into her fists, "You can't."

Robin sighed, "Raven, you defeated Trigon. You have your whole life in front of you- remember? You can get through anything, and I can help."

Raven felt frustration at his foolish misunderstanding. So well meaning, and yet so oblivious to what she only felt should be apparent. Was the possibility that she could like him so hard to fathom- was she so completely out of her element to have placed attachments to him. She hated him in that moment and she nearly yelled, "No, I mean YOU, Robin, YOU yourself can't help ME." She wanted to ridicule him for his thick-headed ignorance, but she quieted her irrational urges.

Robin offered sadly, "Would you want to talk with someone else?"

She had stopped crying, but tears still sat at the bottom of her eyes as she pleaded in one exhausted breathe, "Just leave me alone."

Robin looked down at the floor, bracing the uncertainty of silence that filled between them. She sat on her bed holding her face in her hands. The stillness of the room, along with Raven's stifled sobs weighed on his chest like a brick, and he felt himself sink.

"Raven, let me do SOMETHING. You're my friend. I can't just leave you to deal with this by yourself."

Raven didn't respond. So Robin sat on the floor of her room to wait. This got Raven's attention and she removed her face from her hands. She said his name plaintively, "Robin..."

Raven sunk her head downward toward her crossed arms. She couldn't find the words to speak, and so she simply quit, defeated in every way.

Robin rubbed his neck in anxiety, not wanting to appear presumptuous, but needing to address the theory, "Is this about what happened back in Tokyo?"

Raven looked up from herself without expression, only an intentness that focused in her eyes. She spoke stiffly, solemnly, "I don't want to talk about this. It's no one's fault and I just want to be left alone...Please."

Robin's heart skipped a beat at the actual confession, and he blushed heavily though he tried to fight it. He felt like a fool for never realizing the nature of her depression over the past week. It all made perfect sense, and yet he had assumed with her consistent mask of indifference that she would rather him leave her alone for the most part.

Robin spoke evenly, trying to word himself with tact, "Raven, I didn't know. You never told me."

They both stood from their seated positions, Raven rising first, "I know that. And it wouldn't make any difference."

Robin paused, wanting to hold her if not just for that moment, but he knew better and held his distance, respectfully.

She continued, "You always loved her... I know that." She turned her head away from him.

They stood in silence once more, and it spread like a disease breading anxieties. She felt herself become frustrated and she barked, "Well, now you know- so can you please just get out of my room and leave me alone!"

Robin looked down at the dark carpeting, "Ok, Raven. I'm sorry I bothered you."

He turned away, feeling guilt though he knew well he had done nothing wrong- it was merely unavoidable. Walking away he stopped himself in his tracks for just a moment as a thought had come to his mind, and he turned toward Raven adding a final remark, "You know you're wrong about one thing, Raven- I haven't always loved her."

Robin smiled at Raven, slightly flushing at his own small confession, though the darkness of her room hid it well. She smiled curtly back despite herself as she waved him a simple goodbye. Robin's smile widened at the rare image of her face smiling back. The door shut behind him as he left, and Raven turned to look at her room, once more surrounded by silence. The air conditioner was still running with its signature muffled noises, and the sheets were cool and plush, lying openly in moderate dissaray. She turned to her bookshelf finally, and decided it would be a good time to break open a new book.

* * *

I like interpreting my own stories for other people. I'm like a dictator- "you have no opinion! I'm always right!" jk

anyway, the reason I ended it with Raven reading a book is because she's now somewhat contented knowing that Robin did like her at some point, and there's potential in the future if things don't work out with Starfire. So basically, there's hope for them.

This is a one-shot. That's all I seem to be able to do, but I'm still trying to work on my other non-one-shot pieces. I am just a very unmotivated person. Sorry. Hopefully this one shot makes up for my shortcomings :P

I may have to edit this later, but deal with it for the time being, por favor, and thanks for reading/plz comment!

OoOo yea, and the title of this story is from the song 'You'll Never Be Mine by Nero'.


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